Team SpiderTech powered by C10 is taking another huge step forward in its quest to become the first Canadian professional cycling team to race in the Tour de France.

Title sponsor SpiderTech, a global producer of kinesiology tape, has renewed its sponsorship partnership with Cycle Sport Management Inc. for another three years, ensuring the team will have the core financial support it needs to become part of the WorldTour circuit, which includes the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and all the historic cycling road races around the World.

Achieving this goal will be the crowning achievement of team owner Steve Bauer’s cycling career. The former professional cyclist became world-famous when he wore the Tour de France yellow jersey for a total of 14 days in 1988 and 1990, and in the last five years he has steadily built Team SpiderTech powered by C10 from a regional team to Canada’s most accomplished professional team, competing one rung below the WorldTour level on the ProTour.

The sponsorship extension commences on January 1, 2013 and runs through the end of 2015. A title sponsor agreement of this length and value provides the financial stability to attract the top riders to build a WorldTour team.

SpiderTech’s close relationship with the team has helped the tape become ubiquitous in cycling; eight professional teams now enjoy support from SpiderTech and thousands of elite athletes use the tape. As a result, cycling has become pivotal to SpiderTech’s strategy to bring its product to the retail marketplace.

The sponsorship news comes at an important time for SpiderTech as the tape will soon be broadly available on retail shelves; previously it was only available online and from physical therapists and physicians. In anticipation, the company ran TV commercials during the Tour de France and more than 75,000 people signed up in less than a week to receive free tape samples.

“The success of the company’s relationship with the team has gone far beyond my expectations and Steve Bauer deserves a lot of credit for that,” says SpiderTech owner Ray Arbesman. “I have long said that Steve is the best person to lead a Canadian team to the Tour de France and I’m confident he can do it. It will be a proud day when we achieve this goal.”

“Cycling is an incredibly demanding sport and in parallel behind the scenes building the team has been a demanding process. We have a great team of people working on our common vision to success. We are close now,” says Steve Bauer. “SpiderTech’s confidence in the team’s marketability worldwide has now given us a major boost towards our sporting goals and provides us with the stability we need to reach the WorldTour and be competitive at the Tour de France.”

There will be more exciting news coming soon from SpiderTech powered by C10 as the team announces the new signings and returning riders that will help pave the way to the WorldTour in 2014.

In 2012, SpiderTech powered by C10 assembled an 18-rider squad of predominantly Canadian riders including: Ryan Roth, the 2012 Canadian Road Race Champion, Hugo Houle, the 2012 Canadian U23 Road Race Champion and Guillaume Boivin, the U23 bronze medallist in the road race at the 2010 UCI World Road Championships. The team also includes distinguished international riders, many whom have competed on the WorldTour.